MPs frustrated over direction of committee on violence against indigenous women

There’s one word that many observers use to describe the past few months of the special Commons committee on violence against indigenous women: frustrating.

The committee was established last winter after a motion – tabled by Liberal aboriginal affairs critic Carolyn Bennett – to look at ways to address violence against aboriginal women was supported by all parties in the House of Commons.

But after months of meetings and testimony mostly from government officials, there are serious concerns that the committee’s work since winter – and over the next year – will be for naught.

“What we’ve heard from the aboriginal community witnesses, over and over again, is that people are feeling incredibly and legitimately frustrated,” said the NDP’s Libby Davies, who is one of the committee’s co-chairs.

This isn’t the first time MPs have studied violence against aboriginal women. Back in 2010, the Status of Women committee produced a report on the same issue – a report that’s gathered dust since then.

“There have been so many reports and very little action,” Davies said. “Is this just going to be another committee and another report and nothing happens? And I think people feel pretty cynical about that, and I completely understand why.”

One concern NDP and Liberal MPs have noted is that the committee lacks direction.

There isn’t a government department or minister responsible, specifically, for tackling violence against indigenous women. The issue touches upon a number of departments – aboriginal affairs, Status of Women, health, justice – but, Carolyn Bennett points out, a cabinet minister needs to take the lead and champion the cause.

Davies has asked the committee’s chair – Tory MP Stella Ambler – to set a meeting over the summer to devise a work plan for when the committee meets again in the fall. Otherwise, she says, the group’s study will likely continue without much direction.

“We want to make sure the committee actually works in a constructive, productive way, and we actually accomplish something, and I’m worried that we’re not.”

Bennett, the committee’s other co-chair, says Parliament has studied the issue to death and that there’s a real sense of dismay coming from the people most effected – “those families and friends whose daughters, nieces, mothers, grandmothers are missing and/or murdered,” she said.

She notes that observers are also frustrated by what she says is a very strict view taken by Conservative members of the committee in structuring and conducting committee work.

Bennett says she wanted to hear from families and individuals before hearing from government officials, to better shape the committee’s investigation.

“I think the government chose to use their majority to insist that we would hear from all the government departments first,” Bennett said.

“It’s been frustrating, as is their rigidity in thinking that it’s three witnesses for the first hour, and three witnesses for the second hour. This just isn’t the way we’re going to get the best possible information or conversation and discussion and dialogue about really going forward.”

When and if the committee does hear from families and others effected by violence against aboriginal women – including some of the women themselves, perhaps – Bennett says it has to be done in a culturally sensitive way.

Parliamentary committee meetings can be intimidating, especially for anyone wanting to share difficult experiences. Bennett says members should be open to more informal structures – giving testimony in camera to a smaller group of MPs or sending testimony in via YouTube – and try to listen instead of interrogate.

Committee chair Stella Ambler was unavailable for an interview, but noted in an email exchange that the government “recognizes that the deaths and abductions of these aboriginal women are tragic and have caused deep pain for many families.

“For this reason, the government has taken concrete action and continues to work with many aboriginal organizations to determine the root causes and solutions to this complex issue.”

She added, “The government supports the work being done by the parliamentary committee and I look forward to continuing this very important work again once the House of Commons resumes.”